Architectural Designs

Does anyone know if you can hand draw a not-to-scale landscape design of my front yard for the HOA approval? I recently moved into a detached home community in Phoenix, AZ and my front yard has one ugly bougie. I have ripped out that plant and want to plant shade trees. I only have enough money to buy my trees and I don't want to spend it on a professional design plan. Unfortunately the community has an HOA and I have to submit a design of my yard so that the HOA can accept of deny my landscape design. Do I have to have every darn thing that I want to plant in that yard to scale or can I guesstimate. The fist thing that I must have are shade trees and then later (when I have more money) I want to add flowering bushes, but I don't know which ones. So do I have to place those in my design as well, even if I have no idea what type I want?

How much does it cost for landscape design of a front yard? My home was just waterproofed and all landscape plants had to be removed in the process. I want to start planting but would like to get a professional plan. My house value is only about $125,000. I plan to sell in 2 yrs and I think a nice yard with help with that process but am not sure if I can afford to have a design only drawn up ( I would purchase plants and do the work myself.) I just want a plan for the front of the house.

Need a landscape program that I can download from the internet to design my front yard?

I have some electrical boxes in my front yard. What kind of landscaping design can cover these boxes?

Virtual landscaping for a front yard? I want a free online program that will alow me to design my front yard virtually. so i can see what it will look like. preferably one that will allow you to upload pictures of your house for a backround..

where can i find free landscape designs for spainish style house? front yard large and needs statement pieces along with privacy hedges that are tall in height los angeles southern exposure

Where can I find Landscape Design drawings, examples for my backyard? New homeowner. Have a large rectangle patch of dirt for a backyard. Have asked the man who mows my front yard if he can help landscape the back. He said he can but he needs me to provide a proper drawing of exactly what I want first. He will charge for labor. I don't have a lot of cash so I am looking for example plans/ drawings that I can borrow from. I am from London but I actually live in San Diego.

What is the best inexpensive landscape design software? I want to use a landscape design program to plan out a garden in my front yard. This article mentions three programs that fall within my budget. http://www.homecurbappeal.com/three-of-the-best-landscape-landscaping-design-software-programs/ I don't know which software to choose. Help please! 1, 2 or 3? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

Any idea where to find a landscape designer to design my home's backyard in Livermore CA? Any references? Any Looking to have a nice garden with lot of colourful flowers & design for front & back yard.

Landscape design for North Florida home? Does anyone know where I can get some free/ cheap landscape design advice? Are there students or a good website I can reference? We are ripping up old bushes and want to do something special in the front yard.

I'm looking for landscape design software that is very simple to use and can import a digital photo of my own home to use in the design. Inexpensive would also be required. We want to redo our entire yard, front and back.

Landscape/garden design client horrors. Convincing client what they want is awful? Three years ago I was hired to landscape a gravelly, weedy front yard zone 6b,into something that would enhance the property/house. Client liked the idea of eliminating the lost-cause "lawn", wanted flowering plants, a sitting area. I designed a plan, installed or had installed most of it (would have been 100% but for her not providing suff.$$) and have done maintenance. AFTER having spent many weeks on design work, plant selection, hardscape materials and having mostly completed everything she began slyly expressing dissatisfaction such as mentioning how she has always loved Hydrangeas (macrophylla), Delphimiums, Oriental Poppies, huge tall billowy things, "being surrounded by things she loves" which included hideous plants (chrome yellow coreopsis and others) which clash with the house both in flower and foliage. The house is a very pale tone of dull yellow green, looks almost gray/green, faces directly South and gets full sun dawn to sunset. It is directly across from the ocean and is windswept. The plants I chose were creeping thyme, fine textured artemesias, echinacias, lavenders, sedums, sempervivums, achillea, liatris, helictotrichon, dwarf Japanese black pine, small horizontal junipers cedars, a few winter-blooming heaths, and others. About 60% of the flowers are in the pale-med red/violet family with others pale-med violet or blue and a few butter yellow. Predominant foliage colors are grayish green, deep green, blue-green with about 10% burgundy foliage. Most are very short plants with talls placed around the perimeter and in a couple other places for accent. The yard is small, 20dx35w. The entire yard is an excellent design and the plants are all perfect with each other and with the house and hardscape. Now she is on again about Hydrangeas, Delphimiums (which get eaten by snails + need to be staked), other very tall plants, brilliant yellow, AND "small" tree (exactly in the center of the lot, too). How do you convince someone that a front yard is about the house, its style/color/shape, about the location, about what can thrive there and look good and not about "being surrounded by things she loves". If she fills the yard up with all these things she loves it will be more hideous than when I began work. How do you cope with a design client who does not understand design or plants? Is it better to drop the client and lose the money than cope with the excruciating frustration?

Can anyone recommend a good source of information for a beginning gardener? I want to start planning now for a permaculture landscape design for my yard next spring. From what I've read about permaculture, it sounds like a great concept, but I'm overwhelmed by ph levels, companion planting, planting seeds in hills, blah, blah, blah! I need to do this as frugally as possible and want to do some container gardening to avoid weeds. I want to plant the front and back yards and have it be both attractive and productive. Any advice? Thank you!

House Renovations Inside out or Outside in? We moved into a house last year and we are just now getting ready to start fixing it up. But I have a question. There are many things that need to be done to the house. Including landscape design for the front and back yards. There are also many things I want to do to the inside of the house, major things like changing the floors and painting the walls. Where do I start? Do I do the outside first and then fix the inside or vice versa?

Does anyone know of a landscaping or gardening site where you can send in a picture of your yard to get input? I'm trying to design a cottage garden in a very weird shaped front yard and would love to be able to send in a picture and get some idea. Is there such a site ? Thanks and have a great day !

Outdoor landscaping - Easy to use software? Anyone know of an easy to use landscaping software that can be used to design the front yard. Retaining walls, pplanters, flowers, trees, driveway, and have patterns like stacked stone, brick, and stucco with cap walls?

What is included in the cost for a landscape architect? We hired a landscape architect to draw up plans for our backyard. He quoted us a flat rate and we paid half upfront and half when the plans were delivered. We were under the impression that the plans would include all the information we needed. We told the architect that we would hire the contractors to actually do the work. When he delivered our plans it was just a preliminary design. He wanted an extra $3500+ to deliver the following: Irrigation Plan and Details 600.00 Drainage Plan and Details 750.00 Lighting Plan and Details 575.00 Construction Plan and Details 1,200.00 Planting Plan and Details 750.00 Is this a common practice? We have now hired a landscaping company to execute his conceptual plan but he will not leave us alone about how everything is being done incorrectly and we really need to have these plans from him. I am not sure what to do. When we had someone plan our front yard he included the irrigation, design, and planting plan in one fee and I was under the impression that was how most people did their business.

How best to design a blueprint/draft of my yard? I want to design a simple, but effective draft of my front yard and back yard to my house. I could get out some paper and a ruler and make adjustments for true measurements so it fits to scale on paper, but i thought maybe some of you landscape architects may have a good recommendation for a program I can use. Maybe one that even has stencils for some trees, plants, etc? I am not concerned about the price, only wanting to know what it is that the other landscaping guys would use to create their plan. I googled again this morning and found I THINK what I am looking for. 1. Better Homes and Gardens Designer Suite 2. Your Complete Landscape and Garden Designer I am going to check both of these applications out.

Home offer too low? or reasonable? My husband and i have been looking into homes. We found two home we really like but they are out of our price range the other homes in our price range dont have the nessicary shop that we want. One home is listed at 325,000 and it is 4 bed 2 bath on six acres with a 1,976 sqft This home boasts 6 acres of serene beauty with views of the Ruby Mtns. The 6 acres is fully fenced with three-rail white vinyl with no climb wire. Automatic Custom Front Gate with remotes. desert Landscaped front yard. It has a wonderful lawn with sprinklers, and all the trees are on a drip system. It has a deck with a built in hot tub and a large patio as well. as you can see, there is a extra large dbl garage plus a 40 x 60 shop with 14 ft doors. There are 2 pellet stoves, 1 in the home an 1in the garage. There is a stereo system in the garage and backyard. Huge office and work out room. Some closets are custom designed. the home also has electric heat, can be converted to propane. Central air. Air compressor in garage is built in and stays, air hose & cabinets also stay. Entertainment center… Show more in the lining room with plasma TV, surround sound/DVD player stays. Trampoline and swings stay. The refrigerator, microwave, stove, dishwasher and a large upright freezer stay. " thats there blurb on the website. Its been on the market five months and still no price drops or anything. Home similar to this one have sold for around 180- 220. A brand new home with no fence and no landscape but is brand new and 3200 sqft including an unfinished basement is listed for 254,000 on 5 acres. I asked my relator to look at the house and she acted like she didnt want to show me a house out of my price range, i want to make an offer on the house but dont know what is too low, how do i find what the house bought for years ago. it was built in 1997. I want to make an offer of 230,000. Is that considered too low 100,000 off their asking price. I tried to talk to my relator and she just tells me " she cant tell us that information, or she doesnt know, or their relator wont give that information out" its a small town and we dont want to get another relator since we would see her in time to come. do you think 230 is a fair offer if we present it with similar homes in the area selling for less? We want to offer 230,000 and they can take the entertainment center and swing set....but appliances stay We want to offer 230,000 and they can take the entertainment center and swing set....but appliances stay

Ever see those HGTV Design Exam shows where the student redesigns a space as a final exam on a set budget? I'm looking for someone like that for a landscaping project for my front yard. I live in No Cal (Monterey Peninsula) and am looking for someone who can come in and help me. I'm on a budget and looking to turn my front yard into a courtyard in keeping with the Spanish style house. I need to lessen the maintenance, but give it curb appeal. Any help or advice on where to find someone would be great!

Can a real estate agent put a sign in my yard? Our neighborhood has the design with an open space between the street and the sidewalks. All the home owners have landscaped these areas, installed underground sprinklers, etc. Our city also assigns home owners the responsibility for maintaining and repairing (when needed) the sidewalks in front of your home. My thoughts are that the real estate agent needs to ask my permission to put a sign in the corner of my yard (between the street and the sidewalk), as this is part of my lot. Am I off base here? I should mention, the sign points to a house down the street, my house is not for sale!

Best way to separate dirt from decorative rocks? This is in a small landscaping rock garden. The small rocks are on a 15' long & 2' wide galvanized sheet metal channel designed to direct water quickly to a front yard storm drain (or else our basement would flood). I'll need to remove the rocks & grit by hand but it's a small job. Grit from the driveway and dirt has caused the channel to fill up. What's the best way to separate the grit/dirt from the rocks? What can I use that would function in effect as a colander? Thanks.

How much does garden design cost? I was planning to build an outdoor living area at our front yard and wanted to know how much would be the landscaping. Would the pool be included in the landscaping? I also wanted a pool.

What's the most effective way to kill annual plants and creeping jenny and start over on your lawn? I bought a house from an older couple and they have a back yard jungle due to 2 years of them not maintaining it. I have buckthorn shrubs which I guess grow back even if you cut them down, a plethora of annual flowers and a handful of annual plants that span the entire outer edge of my lawn. On top of that I just found out that creeping jenny is taking over my entire yard, front and back. I want it ALL gone. It takes up way too much of my back yard, we just had a baby and have little to no time to maintain it ourselves and 2 years of overgrowth has turned it into a jungle and is very much an eye strain. What do I need to do to kill EVERYTHING and start over. I want dirt and would plan to lay down grass seed and only have grass with possible bushes later on when we figure out a landscape design that fits the style of our house. PLEASE HELP I'M AT THE END OF MY ROPE. Thanks in advance to any and all answers/suggestions.

Looking for examples of 1/4 rounded stoop for L-shaped ranch style home? Lovely L-shaped ranch at the end of the street needs a new step/porch/stoop (not covered). The house is almost never seen from the front due to a large tree in front yard and the position on street. Walkway approaches from side; door faces street and is not visible to visitor from the path. Front landscaping is bordered in a curved form; I'd like to integrate the new front step by curving it also, to form one continuous line around the L-shaped front. We are excavating to fix the front foundation, so that we will be starting from scratch. Any ideas? Design plans? Do you know a better term I can search by to find images of a 1/4 round front deck? I've been looking by various terms, and have yet to find something done this way... Thank y ou!

Is this a cool idea or bad idea: Landscaping design contest? I have a good imagination when it comes to some things, but terrible when it comes to design (looking at the raw product and seeing the vision of the end result). I have a huge front yard that has gone wild and trashy looking and it needs a total makeover. I was thinking about sponsoring a design contest and the winning submission gets a cash prize ($500?) I thought it would be cool to advertise in the local paper and have it open to anyone (professionals or otherwise) and have limited rules, such as it has to be $5K or less to complete, and would be judged on which I liked best. I thought I could direct people to a website that could give them some clues on what I like (like blueberry bushes). I would hope to get 10 or more quality submissions to pick from. Do you think this idea has any hope? Do you have any suggestions? I would have to put the address in the advertisement. The people who submit their design do not have to be the ones who complete it. I want tons of different ideas. I can hire a landscaper to work on the winning design.

Landscaping for dummies? Does anyone know of a simple easy to follow book or something with simple lanscaping designs that I can use to fix my front / back yards? Everytime I go to the nursery at Lowes / HomeDepot, I get overwhelmed and walk out with nothing. I need some simple ideas. Suggestions?

Need help with backyard design? I am a new homeowner, living in San Diego. I have a large rectangle patch of dirt for a backyard. I asked the man who mows my front yard if he can help landscape the back. He said he can but he needs me to provide a proper drawing of exactly what I want first. He will charge for labor. I don't have a lot of cash so I am looking for example plans/ drawings that I can borrow from or information on where I can find a cheap designer to sketch something out. I am not 100% sure of what I want or what will work in the space.

Buying our first place! :)? My honey and I are about to buy our first place. It's a total fixer-upper but exactly what we want. My question is more so about color schemes. Right now it has wood siding that we plan on replacing with traditional siding. It's a single story ranch with a large porch and brown brick covering most of the front with siding on the upper portion and sides. What would be good colors for the siding? We're thinking white siding? Are there any websites that show color schemes for the exterior? We're completely redoing everything but want a traditional style. He works for a landscaping company so he'll design our front and back yard. Any tips for us? We've checked for water damage, roof is in good condition, newer windows and no structural problems. Thanks :)

Sims 2 - furnishing tips? I've been playing the Sims since I was four (that's eleven years) and I love to build mansions all day long instead of actually play my Sims's lives. I've got the landscaping and exterior design down very well. I just have a huge amount of trouble furnishing mansions - how to take up all that space and still look very nice?! Currently I'm working on two mansions. One is five-six stories; mostly brown. It's a bit swampy with the grass. I want the inside to portray many decades ago (no computers, TVs, etc.). The second house is a 'futuristic' type of mansion. It's six stories. The main colors are white and very little brown. A grand double staircase leads to an entrance to the second floor rather than the first (I went for something exotic and different here. It actually looks amazing!). Then there's flowers bordering it. I was debating whether or not to chuck a pool in the front yard. *I own all the Sims 2 expansion packs :) So, does anyone have any tips of furnishing giant houses...? Please and thanks in advance! ^^

What are the name of the pink/red flowers that are commonly used in commercial landscaping? I am looking to add some color to my front yard with some low maintenance flowers. I've noticed these red/pink flowers that are commonly used in commercial landscaping. It seems every nice business has these red/pink flowers. I would like to know the name of these flowers so that I know what to ask for at the nursery. They have have a burgundy leaf as well and do not spread and take over your yard but instead keep their shape and stay exactly where you planted them. Some people even add the same flower but in white to create pattern designs. What are they called?

Quandry over a water fountain? I like to create in my gardens. My front yard has different types of roses, and evergreens adorning the front of the house. Last year I designed and built a nice little water fountain right under my livingroom windlow. It is simple but it looks nice and sounds pretty when I sit with my windows open. I have landscaping lights on it and the water runs 24/7. I have flowers and plants surrounding the water. Now my son in law bought me one and is very proud that he did. I really like it and wanted one for so long. He had heard me talking of one and had some of it hand made. I don't really want to pull down my creation yet but I know that if I don't attempt to put his up some time this summer he will feel slighted. It was expensive and he and my daughter saved for this in hopes to give me a great gift for mother's day. any opinions?

Any ideas how much it will cost to re-landscape front & back? I want to have both my back & front-yard landscaped (xeriscaped). Any guesstimates how much it might cost, from design to installation? Thanks!